Rohit Sharma named Mumbai skipper for Ranji match

Original captain Ajit Agarkar down with calf injury picked up during first match, to miss Rajasthan game.

Rohit Sharma will lead Mumbai in the absence of the injured Ajit Agarkar against Rajasthan in the second round of Ranji Trophy in Jaipur from November 9-12.

Agarkar, who was named captain for the first four matches, is down with a calf injury.
Agarkar picked up a “minor” calf injury during the match against the Railways and has been advised a few days’ rest, thereby ruling him out of the game against Rajasthan, said Mumbai Cricket Association joint secretary Nitin Dalal on Wednesday. “Agarkar will be available for the subsequent games,” said Dalal.

Sharma knows he will be in charge only for a game, but he hopes to make it count. “We are not thinking Rajasthan are the defending champions. Truth is that we are 39-time champions. It’s a crunch game and we are ready for it,” he told DNA from Jaipur.

The middle-order bat also said that Mumbai is, perhaps, the only team in the Ranji Trophy where every player is as important as the other. “We don’t believe in senior-junior policy. All are equal. We play for Mumbai,” he said.

The Mumbai team, which reached Jaipur on Wednesday, has included five players who turned out for Mumbai ‘A’ against the visiting Englishmen in the three-day match during the same time when the main team was involved in the first Group A Ranji fixture against Railways.

Going out, besides Agarkar, are Sachin Tendulkar, Ajinkya Rahane and Zaheer Khan who will be on national duty, starting with a three-day camp in Mumbai from November 9-11, ahead of the first Test in Ahmedabad starting on November 15.

The five who have come in to the squad are Suryakumar Yadav, Hiken Shah, Shardul Thakur, Kshemal Waingankar and Shoaib Shaikh.